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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617449">Gaming Row</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/riot_red/pseuds/riot_red'>riot_red</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:01:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617449</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/riot_red/pseuds/riot_red</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Many believe that the world is a video game or some sort of system. What if that was true? Well, follow the adventure of a young boy and his friends as they figure out how to break the game. </p><p>triggers for this story : swearing, drugs, and general talk of death and existentialism.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Oh, shit!" Abbi screamed from behind me.<br/>
"What now?" Kat responded from my left.<br/>
Abbi slid from sitting on the back of the couch to sitting properly between me and Kat.<br/>
Abbi shoved her phone in Kat's face and Kat started to read. Kat's eyes then lit up.<br/>
Abbi then shoved her phone in my face. It was an instagram post.<br/>
"Can you believe that bullshit?" Kat said, looking back at the TV.<br/>
"How do you even pronounce that?" I asked.<br/>
"Elon Musk named his child whatever the hell this is," Abbi said, "and i don't trust him anymore.<br/>
"oh come on," i said, leaning back on the arm of the couch, "you didn't trust him in the first place."<br/>
The room glowed a red shade as Kat got a game over screen on the TV.<br/>
"Damn it," Kat said as she tossed me the controller. "Your turn."</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------</p><p>     "Alex?"<br/>
"Here." I shrunk into my seat as i answered.<br/>
The teacher continued with her role call as i secretly sketched under my desk. I could care less about math.<br/>
A paper landed on my desk haphazardly. I looked at it and found a giant X in yellow highlighter drawn on it. The kid in front of me chuckled at me.<br/>
I stood up and went to the teacher's desk. "May i get another paper, please?"<br/>
The teacher eyed the paper. "Well, where did that X come from?"<br/>
"I'm not sure," i lied. The teacher signed and picked up another paper from the pile next to her and traded with me before i went back to my seat.<br/>
112 = x - 243. The answer is x = 355. Easy. I did the rest and handed in the paper before anyone else. The kid who sits in front of me gave me a look as i got out my sketchbook and continued to draw.<br/>
The kid in front of me turned around and tapped on my desk. "Hey, you."<br/>
I looked up at the kid. Curly brown hair and glasses. I think her name was Brit or something.<br/>
"Yes?" i replied.<br/>
"Are you cheating at the math work?"<br/>
I tilted my head to the side. "No. Why?"<br/>
"Then how did you finish that fast?"<br/>
"I didn't finish that fast, did i?" I asked.<br/>
"Five minutes is lightning speed." She said, irritation in her voice. I was so glad other people were talking and drowned us out from everyone else.<br/>
"Oh. I guess it is," I admitted. "Why are you so concerned about it?" I asked, starting to get irritated.<br/>
"You are going to do my work," She said, handing me her paper.<br/>
I looked up at her through my eyelids. "Or what?"<br/>
"I'll tell everyone that you harassed me."<br/>
I raised an eyebrow at her. "No one will believe that without proof, you know. It'll get to the teachers and they'll check the cameras to see."<br/>
The girl looked infuriated. "Just do it, bitch."<br/>
I shrugged. "Ok."<br/>
Her eyes widened. "Really? Ok."<br/>
I put all wrong answers.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everyone knows I was the boy who hung out with girls. No one really cared about that, I don't think. I had two friends, Abbi and Kat. I'd known them both since kindergarten. I was mostly alone.<br/>     That is, until i met this guy.<br/>     i'm a sophomore in high school, so relationships aren't new to me, but this guy was strange.<br/>     Me, Kat, and Abbi went to a cliche halloween party at some popular girl's house. We weren't invited, but neither was anyone else. We all just show up.<br/>     Kat and Abbi went off to dance and probably get Kat to talk to the girl she liked. I was standing off in the corner.<br/>     My head was down, looking at my phone, when the neon lights no longer lit up in front of me.I looked up to see who had blocked them.<br/>     And i saw this boy. Sandy blond hair, pale skin, a suit, and killer gore makeup. I could see his blue eyes in the dark somehow.<br/>     'Ow,' i thought. 'this is gonna end like a movie. He's too pretty.'<br/>     He stuck out his hand to me. "Hi. I'm Apollo."<br/>     'Oh my god his name is Apollo i'm gonna die right here right now i love greek mythology.' <br/>     I took his hand. "I'm Alexander." I said my full name just to try and seem as cool as his name was.<br/>     "Your name suits you." He let go of my hand. "Wanna dance?" <br/>     And so we danced through the night. I learned that he's an artist and musician. All i could do was play video games.<br/>     He told me about his life and his past and i told him about mine. He was a middle child of four siblings. His parents didn't like him and often shouted at him. They never used his name. But he loved his art and music, though he didn't have friends to show it to.<br/>     That's when i knew i needed to get this guy some friends.<br/>     I took his hand and led him over to Kat and Abbi by the snack table. Kat has stolen an entire bag of chips somehow (i know it was her. That's something she would do.) and she and Abbi were sharing it. <br/>     "Kat! Abbi!" I said, dragging Apollo over. "This is Apollo!"<br/>     Abbi and Kat looked at Apollo, then at each other, then at me.<br/>     "Date him," Kat said. <br/>     I froze and blushed, letting to go Apollo's hand.<br/>     "Seriously," Kat continued. "Make me some grandkids. He's perfect." <br/>     Apollo laughed. "Only if Alexander is ok with it."<br/>     "Only if i'm the rice girl at your wedding," Abbi said, grabbing the chip bag from Kat and offering some to Apollo, who accepted.<br/>     Just then, someone walked up to Apollo and stood next to him, almost chest to chest. "Hey, Apollo!"<br/>     Apollo stepped back and grabbed my hand. I already knew what that meant.<br/>     "Hello, Zane," Apollo replied, voice flat.<br/>     Apollo squeezed my hand. Abbi noticed his nervousness around this guy.<br/>     So, Abbi did her Abbi thing. She walked up to Zane and extended her hand.<br/>     "Hi!" She used her other hand to give me the 'imma fight this bitch' signal, a sign language D. "I'm Abbi!"<br/>     Zane took her hand. "Hello. I'm-"<br/>     He didn't get a chance. Abbi took out her gorgeous rainbow glow in the dark pocket knife and stabbed him right through the wrist.<br/>     He screamed in agony. "Let's go!" Abbi screamed. <br/>     I grabbed Apollo's hand as the four of us ran for the exit and out of the house.<br/>     "Wait!" Apollo said. "I can drive! You don't have to walk."<br/>     We thanked him as we ran to his car. I sat in the passenger seat while Abbi and Kat sat in the back. Apollo pulled out and we started to drive away.<br/>     Abbi, Kat and i were laughing our asses off.<br/>     Abbi held up her pocket knife, now dripping with blood. "Who wanna eat it?"<br/>     I raised my hand as she gave me the knife. I started to lick the blood off.<br/>     "I still can't believe you two do that," Kat said, leaning back.<br/>     "Are you guys ok?" Apollo asked.<br/>     "Us?" i asked. "Are you ok? You were the uncomfortable one."<br/>     "I'm fine!" he said, grabbing my hand. "I wanna know about you."<br/>     I smiled. "We're ok."<br/>     Kat gave me a look. I just stuck my tongue out back at her.<br/>     We pulled into a random building parking lot. Oliver put the roof mirror down and started to take his gore makeup off. <br/>     "You have makeup remover?" Abbi asked. All of us had makeup of some sort.<br/>     He gave us all makeup wipes and we took off our makeup in our phone reflections.<br/>     I looked up at Apollo, but my eyes were so tired they were barely open.<br/>     "Do you need to be home?" He asked.<br/>     Abbi, Kat and i looked at each other. "None of our parents would really care," Abbi said.<br/>     "Then come to my place," he said. "You can stay. My parents and siblings are out of state at a concert."<br/>     We all thanked him as he drove off to his house.<br/>     His house was small. One floor and barely fit all of the furniture, but it smelled like cookies and lavender.<br/>     "Hey, Alexander," Apollo said. "Come with me."<br/>     I followed him and he led me to a bedroom. The walls were covered in paintings and drawings. He had guitars and swords hung up next to them. He had a desk in the corner covered in stuff, and a bed with blue blankets and a rubix cube pillow.<br/>     "Lay down, ok?" he said. <br/>     So i lay down. I could hear him by his closet changing, but my eyes were too tired to open them.<br/>     "You want a change of clothes?" he asked.<br/>     I made a small 'no' sound as he walked out of the room to check on Abbi and Kat.<br/>     In no time at all, i heard him walk in, turn off the lights, and lay down next to me.<br/>     He gave me a small kiss on the head. "Goodnight."<br/>     I had given in to him. I put his lips to mine, my eyes still closed.<br/>     Then i don't remember. I fell asleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I woke up in someone's arms. It was warm and smelled like cookies and lavender and axe body spray.<br/>     I looked up and it was Apollo.<br/>     I gently got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. No one was awake. I was an early bird.<br/>     The white light filtered in through the small window in the kitchen, making the dust in the air visible. All was silent as i went to find some food.<br/>     I found a bag of apples on the counter. 'too loud,' i thought. 'It'll wake someone up.'<br/>     When i found nothing that would be quiet enough, i decided i didn't need to eat and went back to Apollo's room.<br/>     Apollo was just waking up when i walked back in.<br/>     "Good morning," he said, his voice sleepy. "Did you sleep well?"<br/>     It was now that i got a good look at him without his gore makeup. His cheeks were rosy and freckles decorated his whole face. His face was round and looked squishy.<br/>     He was pretty. "Yeah," i responded plainly, sitting on the bed next to him.<br/>     He looked like my complete opposite. His body was big and round. He was tall and his hands were really big. He had a permanent smile on his face as far as i could tell.<br/>     Then, there was me. A small, frail, pale kid who was all skin and bones. My face and hands were small and my features were sharp.<br/>     "Do you want something to eat?" He asked.<br/>     I shook my head. "I'm ok." <br/>     He shook the blankets off of his shoulders and stood up. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and black shorts. He extended his hand to me.<br/>     "Come with me anyways," he said. I took his hand and we went to the kitchen where Abbi had woken up.<br/>     "Did you two fuck?" She asked the second she saw us.<br/>     I looked at the ground as Apollo giggled. "No, we didn't," he said. It's like he wasn't bothered. Maybe he wasn't.<br/>     Apollo got out a pan and started making eggs and bacon. Me and Abbi sat at the small table that barely fit in the room.<br/>     When Apollo gave us each a plate of food, we thanked him. I took a fork and picked at my food, eating microscopic bites.<br/>     Apollo looked at how i ate with a confused look. Abbi explained that i was a slow eater and had a fear of choking. I gave her a smile.<br/>     All of a sudden, Apollo gave me a kiss on the cheek. I looked up to his smiling face.<br/>     "Date me?" He asked.<br/>     I kissed his cheek back. "Alright," i smiled.<br/>     Just then, Kat ran in the room.<br/>     "That's cute and all," She said, "but we have a code I outside! We have to leave!"<br/>     We could never get a break, would we.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Everyone Except Apollo got up and started to put our shoes on.<br/>     "What's a code I?" He asked, a look of concern on his face. <br/>     "Abbi's parents," Katie explained, lacing her boots. "We've been running from them forever. They kinda wanna kill their daughter." Abbi gave a nervous smile.<br/>     "My address is 363 Greene Drive," i said, handing him a piece of paper out of my jean pocket. "This has my number and address. Go there, and i'll lead you to the hideout." I have him a quick kiss on the lips before running to the back door.<br/>     "Bye! Thank you!" I said quickly, shutting the door behind us.<br/>     We ran the eight miles back to the hideout. Apollo didn't live way too far away at least.<br/>     When we got there, we were sweaty and panting.<br/>     Our hideout was in a creek. A small creek, but a creek nonetheless. We had made a roof off of a side of a hill out of wood and a giant tarp we stole from construction workers. We did have an actual home with my parents, but the hideout was the safest place for us.<br/>     We all sat down on our makeshift stone chairs under the roof and stayed in silence, catching our breaths.<br/>     "What do we do now?" Kat asked.<br/>     Abbi and i shrugged. We sat in more silence.<br/>     Then, we heard leaves rustling.<br/>     Abbi slipped her hand into her pocket and took out her knife. "It's either dinner or a human. I'll find out." She stood up and walked out of the safety of the hideout.<br/>     We sat in more silence before abbi came running back. "They found us!"<br/>      Before she could say anything else, a gunshot could be heard from not too far away.<br/>     I got my gun from the corner of the hideout and Kat got her makeshift trash sword.<br/>     We all stepped out to see Abbi's parents.<br/>     Abbi's parents looked very similar to her. Abbi's mom, Jen, was tall and thin, standing at six feet and two inches last time i checked. She had shoulder blade length brown hair and a long face. Her father was much shorter. He was also thin and had brown, balding hair. His beard was greying.<br/>     We all had the same collective thought. We can't let them get away now that we know where we are.<br/>     I took the safety off of my gun and aimed at Jen's ankle. When i fired, she didn't even flinch as it hit her. Instead, her leg bled an awful neon yellow color.<br/>     We looked at it in disgust. <br/>     "Yellow blood?" Kat screamed, Taking her sword and throwing it at Jen's head. The sword cut her right down the center of her face. Kat always had good aim.<br/>     When Jen didn't falter, i took out the shell from my last bullet and shot again, this time at Abbi's dad, John. When he didn't falter either when i shot him in the knee, he tried to shoot me back with his gun.<br/>     I dodged easily, but was so confused. They were bleeding yellow and not even acting like they're hurt.<br/>     "What do we do?" Abbi screamed.<br/>     "I don't know!" I screamed back. "Just go to town on them i guess!"<br/>     So we shot them and cut them up until they were no longer standing. They lay on the forest floor, water from the creek washing them off.<br/>     "What do we do now?" Kat asked, looking at the two dead adults on the ground.<br/>     "Hide the bodies," Abbi said.<br/>     Just as we were about to plan on how to do that, the bodies of Abbi's parents started to disintegrate into a fine dust and disappear into the ground.<br/>     We just stared. <br/>     "What the fuck just happened?"</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Kat was sitting on a stone, Abbi was pacing, and I was looking at the ground where the bodies just were.<br/>     None of us knew what to do.<br/>     "Do you think they were aliens?" Abbi asked.<br/>     "Maybe," Kat said. "NASA did confirm aliens not that long ago."<br/>     "Wait," i said, standing up. "They disappeared like the bodies in Running Alive!"<br/>     "Wait, the video game?" Kat asked.<br/>     "They did!" Abbi said. "The bodies in that game disintegrate!" <br/>     "But we aren't in a video game," Kat said, standing up with us.<br/>     "We might be," i said. "Let's run some tests and find out."<br/>     After a while of doing the cliche movie things like hitting our chests for a health bar or finding a life count somewhere on our bodies, we didn't find anything.<br/>     "See?" Kat said, putting her arm around my shoulders. "We aren't-" She spoke way too soon, because the moment she touched the back on my neck, a small box appeared in front of me.<br/>     "My birth mark!" I shouted. "My birth mark is on the back of my neck. When you tapped it, it brought this up!" I started looking at the box.<br/>     It was formatted simply. Health bar in the top left, hunger bar in the top right, and inventory list right below it.<br/>     I tapped my birth mark again and the box went away.<br/>     Katie skeptically tapped her light brown birth mark on her ankle, and the same thing happened for her.<br/>     Abbi tapped hers on the inside of her left bicep, and her box showed up.<br/>     "Holy shit," I said. "We're in a video game!"<br/>     Abbi and Kat tapped their birth marks and their boxes went away.<br/>     All of a sudden, my phone started ringing. I took a deep breath to calm my excitement and answered it. "Hello?"<br/>     "Hey, it's Apollo." <br/>     "Hey!" i smiled.<br/>     "Can i come over?" he asked. "My family came home."<br/>     "Of course!" i said. "I have something to show you anyways."<br/>     "Alright. Thank you!" He then hung up.<br/>     "Back to the house we go," i said. "Apollo is coming over and we can test some more stuff."<br/>     "You think this will all end ok?" Kat asked.<br/>     "You only live once," Abbi replies as we started walking to my house. "We might as well test this."<br/>     We walked back to my house, and Apollo was in my driveway, leaning against his car.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So," Apollo said, sitting on my couch next to Abbi and Kat, "how would we be in a video game?" he asked.<br/>     "I don't know!" i exclaimed, throwing my hands up for emphasis. "We just killed two people! I'm not exactly in a good headspace." <br/>     We all stood in silence for a few seconds before Abbi got up, turned on the xbox, and loaded up RedSoul.<br/>     "When playing games like RedSoul," she said, "you do small tasks and quests that help you level up and lead to the final boss." <br/>     We all nodded. "Then there should be an end to the game we're in, correct?" <br/>     "Do you think the end is death?" Apollo asked.<br/>     "I'm not sure," Abbi admitted. "I suggest we don't try that." <br/>     "I'd die for this," I said, earning a punch in the shoulder from Abbi.<br/>     "None of us are dying," she said. "We just gotta keep leveling up. That's a basic thing in all games, right?" <br/>     "What if we're not in a game like that?" Kat asked. "What if we're in, like, something like a dating simulator with certain lines and coding that can only lead to a certain outcome?"<br/>     Abbi pauses for a moment. "I'm not sure. I expected a Jumanji type thing, but it might not be that."<br/>     Abbi brought up her stats box. "There's no level option. Either we haven't leveled up at all, or there's no levels."<br/>     "What are some ways to level up?" Apollo asked. <br/>     "Collecting items, doing quests, beating opponents," Abbi listed.<br/>     "Earning the favor of others," i said.<br/>     "Hm.." Apollo looked at me. "Kiss me. See what it does."<br/>     "I've kissed you before and it doesn't seem like it's done anything," I said, bringing up my box, "But i'll try it with the box open."<br/>     I gave him a kiss, then pulled back and looked at my box. "Nothing."<br/>     "Aw man," Apollo groaned, "that makes me feel useless."<br/>     "There's really nothing we can do right now," Abbi said. "Let's just go about our lives and if something happens we say so."<br/>     We all nodded and went to go do our own things.<br/>     "Hey," Apollo said. "Do you mind if i stay here for a few hours?"<br/>     I took his hand. "Not at all! Stay as long as you want." <br/>     Abbi and Kat spent the day down in the gaming room while Apollo and i stayed in my bedroom.<br/>     We were sitting on my bed when Apollo asked, "How are you so... calm?"<br/>     I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"<br/>     "Well, you just killed two people and found out we're in a video game, yet you're acting all normal. How?"<br/>     I twisted to lay down. "I've been preparing for the end of the world for five years. I live with my two besties and nothing really makes me go too insane anymore. I've learned to accept whatever happens to me i guess."<br/>     Apollo laid down next to me. "I'm a little confused right now," he admitted. "Everything seems weird now."<br/>     I held his hand as we stared at the ceiling. "I understand." <br/>     We stared at the ceiling for a moment before my mind clicked. My eyes widened as i sat up. "Age!"<br/>     "What?" Apollo asked.<br/>     "Our age is our level, it has to be! Time is a social construct, which means that it's a system to keep track of our level!" <br/>     Apollo sat up next to me. "I think you might be onto something."</p>
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